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9 11 Synthetic Terror Made in USA - Amazon Noir

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Page 20<br />

9/<strong>11</strong> <strong>Synthetic</strong> <strong>Terror</strong>: <strong>Made</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>USA</strong> Clarke tells us <strong>in</strong> his memoir that<br />

he attempted to collect his thoughts about the events go<strong>in</strong>g on around<br />

him as he walked from the White House Secure Videoconferenc<strong>in</strong>g Center<br />

just off the Situation Room across the White House to the Presidential<br />

Emergency Operations Center, which was Cheney's underground bunker: In<br />

the quiet of the walk, I caught my breath for the first time that day:<br />

This was the "Big at Qaeda Attack" we had warned was com<strong>in</strong>g and it was<br />

bigger than almost anyth<strong>in</strong>g we had imag<strong>in</strong>ed, short of a nuclear weapon.<br />

(Clarke 17) This is already one of the most fateful snap judgments <strong>in</strong><br />

world history. Had Clarke utterly forgotten the lessons of Oklahoma<br />

City, when leakers had <strong>in</strong>spired the report that the explosion was the<br />

work of Muslims? Clarke had no proof then, and has come forward with<br />

none s<strong>in</strong>ce. Rush<strong>in</strong>g to overtake Clarke as the lead<strong>in</strong>g hipshot <strong>in</strong> snap<br />

strategic diagnosis was CIA Director Tenet. While Bush was cower<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><br />

his spider hole at Offutt Air Force Base <strong>in</strong> Nebraska, he conducted a<br />

National Security Council meet<strong>in</strong>g by means of teleconference screens.<br />

"Who do you th<strong>in</strong>k did this to us?" Bush asked Tenet. Tenet was emphatic:<br />

"Sir, I believe it's at Qaeda. We're do<strong>in</strong>g the assessment, but it looks<br />

like, it feels like, it smells like A] Qaeda." (Bamford 2004 91) In<br />

other words, Tenet also had no proof, no evidence, no case - just his<br />

crude Lockean sense certa<strong>in</strong>ty, real or feigned. Later, after World Trade<br />

Center 7 had gone through its <strong>in</strong>explicable and embarrass<strong>in</strong>g collapse at<br />

about 5:20 PM, Clarke addressed a high-level <strong>in</strong>teragency meet<strong>in</strong>g from<br />

the Situation Room. Present by video l<strong>in</strong>k were Armitage of State,<br />

General Myers of the Jo<strong>in</strong>t Chiefs of Staff (JCS), and other important<br />

officials. Clarke stated: "Okay, we all know this was at Qaeda. FBI and<br />

CIA will develop the case and see if I'm right. We want the truth but,<br />

<strong>in</strong> the meantime, let's go with the assumption it's at Qaeda. What's<br />

next?" (Clarke 23) Before he went to bed <strong>in</strong> the White House, Bush jotted<br />

a note to himself: "The Pearl Harbor of the 21" century took place<br />

today. We th<strong>in</strong>k it's Osama b<strong>in</strong> Laden." (Bamford 2004 92) Given the<br />

fecklessness of Bush, Cheney, and Rice, Richard Clarke was runn<strong>in</strong>g the<br />

US government on 9/ 1 1, and it was he who made the myth of the<br />

exclusive responsibility of at Qaeda/b<strong>in</strong> Laden <strong>in</strong>to the official policy<br />

of the US. Clarke can thus claim pride of place as the orig<strong>in</strong>ator of the<br />

9/<strong>11</strong> myth. And Clarke was more than a mythograph. Clarke also shared <strong>in</strong><br />

the responsibility for the bungl<strong>in</strong>g and stupid attack on an aspir<strong>in</strong><br />

factory <strong>in</strong> Khartoum, Sudan, after the bomb<strong>in</strong>g of US embassies <strong>in</strong> east<br />

Africa <strong>in</strong> the summer of 1998. If there were an Oscar for deception,<br />

Clarke's performance at the Kean-Hamilton Commission hear<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> April<br />

2004 would have won it. It was that virtuoso performance which launched<br />

Clarke on his current career as a television commentator predict<strong>in</strong>g<br />

imm<strong>in</strong>ent WMD terrorist attacks on this country and advocat<strong>in</strong>g the speedy<br />

imposition of martial law. We will hear more about this gentleman later.

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